Automatic monitoring and control of hydroponic fodder system.

Abstract

Livestock contributes 40% of the global value of the agricultural inputs and in Uganda 52% of households which is approximately 21million Ugandans keeps livestock and its production is one of the major economic activities which contributes 5.25% and 12.7% to the total national GDP and the agricultural GDP respectively. However, the biggest challenge being faced in this sector is provide adequate quality green fodder for the livestock. Hydroponic fodder system has emerged as the solution to the green fodder shortage. Hydroponic fodder system is the growing of fodder or green grass without the use of soil. The farmers that have adopted to this new system have faced challenges with monitoring the environmental conditions like temperature, light and the moisture content in the system and this has led to slow growth of fodder and poor-quality fodder being produced. An automatic monitoring and control of hydroponic fodder system has been a project designed to help solve the monitoring problem in hydroponic fodder system. This project consist of the temperature sensor which determines the temperature within the system, moisture sensor which help to measure the moisture within the system, water pump which is used to pump water in case the moisture content is low, the heating bulb this helps to generate heat in case the temperature is below the optimum, cooling fan use for cooling down the temperature to the optimal, lighting bulb which provides the light needed for proper growth of fodder and the microprocessor Atmega 328 which helps to control all the inputs and outputs of the system. The main goal of the project is to automatically monitor and control the environmental conditions like temperature, light and moisture content necessary for proper growth of fodder in the system. The work is arranged mainly in six chapters, Chapter one includes the introduction to hydroponic fodder system. Chapter two discusses the literature related to the system, Chapter three illustrates the methodologies used in coming up with the working prototype of the system, Chapter four includes system design and analysis, Chapter five contains the implementation and testing of the system and chapter six contains the summary of the work, discussions and recommendations.